Fennel is widely grown, both in its inherent ranges and elsewhere, for they are edible, strongly-flavored leaves and seeds.  Fennel oil is also used as a flavoring in some natural toothpaste.  Common fennel seed is a ingredient in Italian sausages and meatballs and northern European rye breads.  Fennel tea, also employed as a carminative, is made by pouring boiling water on a teaspoonful of bruised Fennel seeds.  Fennel oil has also been used to energies lactation, as a remedy against colic, and to improve the taste of other medicines.  Fennel is generally recognized as safe for human consumption when used as a spice/natural flavoring or as an essential oil/oleoresin